How Sony Used to be The Gold Standard for Backward Compatibility

Recent years haven’t exactly painted Sony‘s PlayStation consoles as a haven for backward compatibility. The PS Vita wasn’t backward compatible with physical PSP games, and the PS4 featured zero backward compatibility options as well. The recently released PlayStation 5 is backward compatible, and Sony has brought some classic PS2 games to the PS4 storefront, but its efforts pale in comparison to its chief competitor, Microsoft.

Microsoft has made a big push for backward compatibility, to the point where it’s possible to play some original Xbox games on a console as new as the Xbox Series X. By comparison, Sony seems far less interested in backward compatibility or preserving video games in digital storefronts, as evidenced by its plans to shut down legacy PlayStation Stores on PS3, PSP, and PS Vita. However, there once was a time when Sony was the gold standard for how backward compatibility should work in video gaming.

The original PlayStation was Sony’s first console, and Sony made sure that all its games worked on the follow-up system, the PlayStation 2. The PlayStation 2 featured full backward compatibility with the PS1, which gave it a massive library of games right off the bat. By comparison, PS2 competitor the Nintendo GameCube did not feature backward compatibility of any kind with its preceding console, the Nintendo 64.

Sony kept its backward compatibility support going with the PlayStation 3. Launch PlayStation 3 consoles could not play PS2 and PS1 games, but eventually Sony phased out backward compatibility support for its PS3 units. All PS3 consoles can play PS1 games, but the vast majority of them are unable to play physical PS2 discs. There are some PS2 games available on the PS3 PlayStation Store digitally, however.

With the launch of the PlayStation 4, Sony seemed to abandon its backward compatibility plans completely, outside of making some hardware like the PlayStation Move work with the PS4. This meant that all PS4 units could not play PS1, PS2, or PS3 games, except in cases where games were re-released digitally or if they were made playable through the PlayStation Now subscription service. This was a huge departure from how Sony handled backward compatibility in the past.

While Sony was originally the gold standard for backward compatibility from the PS1 to PS3 eras, Nintendo eventually joined the practice as well. Nintendo handhelds were consistently backward compatible, though its home consoles never were. That changed with the Wii, which was capable of playing GameCube games, and the Wii U, which was backward compatible with the Wii. The latest Nintendo console, the Switch, is not backward compatible, however.

Sony was once setting the bar for backward compatibility in the video game industry. And while it still hasn’t returned to making its consoles fully backward compatible, it has taken some steps in the right direction. Whereas the PS4 abandoned backward compatibility completely, the PlayStation 5 has embraced it, with Sony’s next-generation console capable of playing almost every game in the PS4’s library.

Plus, many classic games are available to play on PS5 thanks to Sony releasing enhanced ports of PS2 games on the PS4 and adding titles to PlayStation Now. This way, the PlayStation 5 is capable of playing games dating all the way back to the PS2, though PS1 titles have yet to be featured on the new platform. And with the closure of the PlayStation Store platforms on PS3, PSP, and PS Vita, many classic PS1 games are going to become inaccessible to players.

It would be great to see Sony one day bring some PS1 games to the PlayStation 5, either through digital downloads or through the PlayStation Now service. There is some evidence to suggest that Sony may actually be considering such a thing, but fans shouldn’t get their hopes up.

Sony has filed a patent that would allow the company to add trophies to retro games. Since trophy support already exists for many PS3 games and all PS4 and PS5 games, this would likely mean trophy support for PS1 and PS2 games. And since the PS2 games that were enhanced and re-released on PS4 already have trophies, one would think that this patent would be aiming at older games that are being emulated instead of actually being ported.

Of course, all of this is just speculation at this time. Retro games on the PlayStation 5 may wind up only coming through digital re-releases and fans may never get something as comprehensive as the PlayStation Store on PS3, PSP, and PS Vita. And Sony may not have any plans to actually use its patent that would allow it to add trophies to retro games. But Microsoft has shown that it is technically possible for backward compatibility to be implemented on these new consoles, and so maybe that could be something that’s added to the PS5 at some point down the line.

The PS5 could potentially become a hub that embraces all of PlayStation history. There were rumors that the PS5 would be backward compatible all the way to the PS1 prior to the console’s launch, and while those rumors turned out to be untrue, maybe it’s something that could be implemented at some point down the road. Sony has not announced any plans to do so, but there’s always a chance.

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